Holmes Monsters Illustrated: Berserkers

Doug Kovacs - DCC #70

NO PRISONERS!

My personal image of berserkers will be forever be influenced by the ones +Evan Elkins killed one of my characters with in his Nightwick Abbey. I was one-shotted by one of these guys. They were wearing human skin skullcaps, and I think their "leather" armor was made of human skin as well. I learned that just because you're on level 1, charging in like a dummy is still charging in like a dummy.

Basically, berserkers are men who have been supernaturally corrupted by hanging out in the underworld way too long. They have become bloodthirsty leatherface-type guys who cannot speak or do much of anything except kill. Bright light, such as a torch or lantern held to the face, will usually stun them for a round if they can't make a save against stoning.

WHAT ARE THESE BERSERKERS YOU JUST STUMBLED ACROSS DOING? (if surprised)

1. Eating a person
2. Drinking blood from a skull
3. Sewing some armor/clothes from human skin
4. Sharpening bones into various stabbing implements
5. Mutilating themselves
6. Carving profane slogans into each others' backs and high-fiving each other
7. Smoking PCP and playing Grand Theft Auto
8. Having naked wrestling matches with a random dungeon monster from level 3.

WHAT DO THE BERSERKERS WEAR?

1. Miscellaneous heavy metal concert t-shirts
2. Naked, but body completely painted in blood; human skin masks
3. Daisy Dukes, mesh trucker caps and wife beaters
4. Jeans and jean jackets (i.e. "Canadian Tuxedo")
5. S&M leathers
6. GWAR gear

WHAT DO THEY WIELD?

1. lead pipes
2. spiked chains
3. clubs, coated in resin and rolled in broken glass
4. nothing. will charge and tackle opponents, headbutt, claw at eyes, bite faces, etc.
5. iron spikes
6. rusty glaives

WHAT HAPPENS IF THEY CRIT (19-20)?

Roll two exploding damage dice (d8s)

WHAT KINDS OF INCIDENTAL TREASURE CAN BE FOUND ON A BERSERKER?

1. 1d12 black metal coins of questionable worth
2. 2d20 teeth of various sorts (1 in 6 chance of a gold one)
3. eyepatch
4. 10' rope made of human hair
5. lump of soul coal
6. bits of metal suitable for body piercing (if santized)
7. a half-rotted eyeball
8. a pair of testacles
9. butterfly knife
10. spell scroll. 80% chance it has been used as toilet paper.

Holmes Monsters Illustrated: Basilisk

This thing seems pretty nondescript. None of that stuff about six legs and what have you. It's nice that we have both a bite and a gaze to utilize here, since normally what happens in my experience is that it's figured out (six legs is a big red flag), gazes are averted, and the monster is handily defeated.

Within The Underworld, there is large hall with neatly lined up statues around the circumference. Anyone making more than a cursory glance will notice that the poses are all peculiar, sort of like candid photographs, not like the stately or action-oriented poses one would normally expect. 1-3 large lumbering lizards tend to come investigate the sent of live meat, tongues flicking all about. (I interpret "rather small reptilian monster" to be in comparison to a dragon.)

When it's all said and done, any newly-minted statues will be neatly arranged near the outside walls by some unknown denizen(s) of the dungeon with a penchant for neatness and order.

Holmes Monsters Illustrated: Bandit

One of the neat things about Holmes Basic D&D is that it barely has any illustrations. We have nothing but the text to go on, so we get to exercise our imagination a bit (or perhaps our googling skills), and take some liberties.

As an exercise, I'm going to attempt to go through each Holmes monster entry, and find a picture or illustration to accompany it. I'll add some additional stream-of-consciousness notes wherever possible as well. It's really just a brainstorming exercise to help give my Skullfuck Mountain game a simplistic sort of depth, but hopefully you will find it entertaining as well.

So without further ado, I present you with our first specimen - the Bandit.

Bandits are usually encountered in smallish groups that work together to relieve passersby of any valuables they may be carrying. They are not true warriors, so they will generally only attack when they can stage an ambush and gain surprise.

These bandits you just encountered are (50% chance of each):

• A ragtag group of 4-24 unskilled, out-of-work men who need to feed their families. They wear ill-fitting leathers and wield a variety of makeshift weapons (clubs, 2x4's, fireplace pokers, crowbars, brick-in-a-sock, segment of chain, modified pitchforks, and so forth). Their morale is generally low.
• A smaller group of 2-12 sadists that just likes taking people's stuff for the sheer fun of it. Given the opportunity, they will seek to humiliate and possibly even torture their victims. These kind will generally be wearing studded leather armors and wielding decent-quality military weapons. The leader will usually have a whip and fine clothes from a previous victim.

In both cases, there is an 80% chance that one of the bandits will have a sixgun loaded with 3-6 bullets. This guy will attempt to stay hidden until the second round of combat, at which point he will emerge and begin firing (from behind cover if available) 2 shots per round, first at any wizards he can identify, and secondly at any fighter types.

Sixgun Mechanics

All shots are fired as if against leather armor.

The first shot fired always causes an immediate wandering monster check.

Hits on enemies 3 HD and up cause 1d6+1 damage.

For hits on enemies less than 3 HD, roll the hit location die (or just a regular d12) to determine effect.

1. Right Arm: 1-3 damage, any held item dropped, arm disabled until magically healed or 1-6 weeks bed rest.
2. Left Arm: 1-3 damage, any held item dropped, arm disabled until magically healed or 1-6 weeks bed rest.
3. Right Hand: 1-2 damage, any held item dropped, hand disabled until magically healed or 1-3 weeks bed rest.
4. Left Hand: 1-2 damage, any held item dropped, hand disabled until magically healed or 1-3 weeks bed rest.
5. Head: Instantly killed
6. Body: 1-4 damage. Disabled. Die in 1-20 rounds unless magically healed.
7. Stomach: 1-4 damage. Only bare minimum of movement/actions possible. Any strenuous action taken, such as trying to attack an enemy, requires a save vs. death ray to avoid passing out from the pain. Die in 2-12 hours unless magically healed.
8. Chest: 1-6 damage. Only bare minimum of movement/actions possible. Any strenuous action taken, such as trying to attack an enemy, requires a save vs. death ray to avoid passing out from the pain. Die in 3-18 rounds unless magically healed.
9. Right Leg: 1-3 damage. Fall prone. 1/4 movement speed. Leg disabled until magically healed or 1-6 weeks bed rest.
10. Left Leg: 1-3 damage. Fall prone. 1/4 movement speed. Leg disabled until magically healed or 1-6 weeks bed rest.
11. Right Foot: 1-2 damage. Need assistance to walk. Foot disabled until magically healed or 1-3 weeks bed rest.
12. Left Foot: 1-2 damage. Need assistance to walk. Foot disabled until magically healed or 1-3 weeks bed rest.